Tell It to the Ocean
by bebzzz
Summary: Sorry, bad title. I was just winging it. Fanfic about Hwoarang. Could get violent and mature later on. Now, it just has some strong language. Told in the perspective of people who have influenced his life or had their lives influenced by him. My first fic
1. Prologue: The Ocean

Hey, thanks for reading my first fic! I was always interested in Tekken since I got the third one for Christmas. x) Hwoarang was my favorite character: one, because he was Korean and I'm very KP. x) Two, because he was freaking hot, hotter than Jin by a million times.

This fic is going to be about Hwoarang's life told by others...not himself. These peoples' lives have all been affected by Hwoarang. Or these people all affected Hwoarang in some way. I figured the IC point of view had been done too many times, lol.

Sorry for the forced sounding description here...I went a little overboard. The next one won't be so flowery, I promise.

* * *

A pale blue smoke, reeking of menthol and tobacco, issued like a mass of lazily writhing snakes from a pair of pale, thin lips. Light brown eyes, catlike and lively, were clouded briefly with a blue tinge until a gentle sea wind dissipated the menthol smoke into the crisp autumn air.

On a black beach of Inchon, South Korea a young man stood stock still with his silhouette accented by a giant moon and a thousand stars. Salty seawater lapped gently against the inky-black sand, claiming some with each ebb and flow of the waves. The strident cries of seagulls had long since died away, giving into the rush the waves and the occasional scuttle of a hermit crab. A dog howling in the distance suddenly stopped its piteous cries. Its owner probably had hit it across the head to stop its whining; there was no such thing as animal rights legislation in South Korea. The dog was a living thing, natured to be imperfect, yet it was punished for something it couldn't control. A smirk twisted the face of the young man as flashes of memory flitted across his mind. How ironic…

As if automatically, his right hand, illuminated by the orange-red glow of the burning tip, raised up to fit the paper filter of the cigarette in his lips again. After a long moment where he savored the acrid burning of the powerful menthol in his throat and lungs, he released his breath quickly, expelling a nebula of pale blueness into the salty air. But the sea wind blew the stinging smoke right back into his cat-like eyes.

He jerked his head forward in reaction; the faint ethereal light of the moon now revealed a head of violently orange hair, pushed back with terribly old motorcycle goggles, the lenses scratched and grimy, the woven nylon of the straps fraying at the sides.

A now irritated Hwoarang stood straight up again. Slowly, he approached the mass of boulders behind him. With his free hand, he brushed away a little hermit crab and sat down. Nonchalantly, he flicked his still burning cigarette into the sand just before a wave rushed in to claim the burning tip.

Many things happened right here in this beach.

Love.

Joy.

Estrangement.

Loss.

…Murder.

Hwoarang's body grew still as memories flitted through his mind like a terrible sort of slideshow. Long sunsets… joyous laughter…honest smiles…a retreating ship…bloody hands…an anguished face…a smoking gun…

Something about the rushing waves brought up repressed feelings, hidden inside him for years. Regret, guilt, fear, anger…all-consuming, all-destroying…everything. They ate away at his soul…it was tangible; he could feel himself turning into a churning barrel of shame. How did it happen? How could he have let it happen? Why couldn't he have stopped it? If he wasn't so selfish…if he could have prevented it…if he just didn't pull the trigger…

_The deluge wouldn't stop. _

A consuming feeling of…sensitivity to being alive filled him up. He could feel invisible strands of long black hair against his tingling fingertips…he could feel the tentative touch of soft lips against his…he could feel an innocent, frightened blood pulsing under his trembling hands…he could feel the trigger under his reluctant fingers lurching backward…he could feel a life escape from beneath his killing grip on a tender neck…

Suddenly, everything around him was overpowering. The moon seemed as bright as a hundred suns, the stars like brightly flashing halogen lights. The rush of the ocean waves tore at his ear drums. The scuttle of a thousand hermit crabs scraped at his senses. The heart in his chest sent a shooting pain through his body each time it staggered clumsily for one more pulse.

He had to calm down. He had to stop this overpowering guilt from devouring him…his mind, his body, his soul…Hwoarang shut his eyes.

…

Blackness filled his vision, obscuring everything into darkness, attuning him more acutely with himself. He was vulnerable, but…he liked it. The bliss that this descent into oblivion created in Hwoarang's body made his fingers tingle, his mind swirl, his stomach loosen…the pumps of his blood slowed, slowed, slowed, until the rushing of the waves were in tempo with his heart. His body became the sea, his heart became the waves…ebb…and flow…ebb…and flow…

…

With his eyes shut, Hwoarang meditated quietly as the wind caressed his skin. The hermit crabs stopped scuttling. The waves were quieter with the tide out. Peace permeated the quiet autumn air as he slipped silently into his self, purging the sense of life, and all of its crosses, away.

…

Darkness and blackness filled his mind. He began to lose himself in the sheer nothingness that this meditation brought him…He could feel nothing…see nothing…hear nothing. Where were his arms? Where were his legs? This strange process of having presence of being yet also intangibility was almost sensual to him…euphoric…beauty…

…

This must be the ultimate pleasure. Hwoarang had almost completely given in to the void in his mind, his soul, his utter existence…

…

Consuming darkness, unconditional blankness, raven colored nonbeing…

…!!

A piercing cry shattered Hwoarang's concentration, forcing his amber colored eyes to flutter open to a powerfully silver moon. The shock of being awoken from such a deep trance almost unseated him from the boulder. An unjustifiable anger overwhelmed him. His features twisted into a disappointed grimace, as if he was denied a real treat.

The feeling of existence flooded his being, solidifying him, filling him up. An inundation of frustration assaulted his body.

Damn that dog…

The pleasure of becoming something that wasn't tangible, something abstract…that was what he wanted. It was the best high he ever reached on this earth. It had happened to him once before…just once…ever since then, he pursued that feeling relentlessly. But it was always out of his reach. He had tried everything…anything that could possibly give him that high…it teased and taunted him; he could touch it with his fingertips…but he could never grab hold.

Damn that fucking dog…

He stood from his place on the edge of the beach unsteadily; the effects of his deep meditation weren't completely dissipated from his body. Like a toddler just taking his first steps, Hwoarang stumbled to his motorcycle and grasped the handlebars. They were comforting, melding perfectly with the grip of his hands. He kicked his animal into life and it roared mightily, as if angered at being woken up after a long slumber. With another earsplitting shriek, it jetted forward into the neon signs and bright lights of downtown Inchon.

God fucking damn that stupid fucking dog.


	2. Chapter 1: The Nurse

Hey, this is now the first chapter. Every life has got to start somewhere...Hwoarang's starts at a small hospital in Inchon, South Korea. I tried to keep the super forced detail out. Tell me what you think of the change!

C C is appreciated.

* * *

Nurse Kim Hyun Hae punched in her password to her apartment door and immediately threw her coat onto a brown folding chair in her apartment, shaken. She had almost lost her. Almost lost her! The events of the day reeled through her mind, a movie fractured by pumping fear and adrenaline. She had almost lost a baby. A tiny fragile life. It almost slipped away right through her fingers. The guilty agents still shook from the ordeal.

_She was a decent looking young woman. Maybe around twenty-five years old. Still, that was young. Her husband was with her. Or was it her brother? Or her cousin? The nurse couldn't remember. All she cared was that the little baby was already about to come out of her when they reeled her into the delivery room. The woman was screaming. My god, it was bloody murder. But the nurse had dealt with the screamers before._

"_Please, calm down. Don't worry. You and your child will be well taken care of." The nurse's percussive Korean rolled smoothly and calmingly out of her mouth. It was ignored by the panicking woman. She was twenty-five—still too young. The soon-to-be new mother was shoved roughly onto the bed with the baby crowning. Time was racing past them. The baby was about to come. The pandemonium in the room was deafening. Nurse Kim Hyun Hae worked silently under the yelling husband or brother or cousin and the panicking young woman. Thundering footsteps everywhere. The metal bed-frame clanking and groaning. The angry horns of the Inchon traffic outside. It was a long time since she had been a midwife. A bead of sweat rolled down the nurse's temple._

_And in one beautiful moment, the baby was out. For a split second, a strange, otherworldly calm filled the room. The baby was out! And it was a girl. A beautiful baby girl. The new mother and the man locked eyes for a second, exchanging relief. But something was wrong. The beautiful baby girl was not crying. As deeply as the baby's birth sent warm relief through the nurse, the baby's silence sent bone-chilling cold flooding into her chest._

_The woman was screaming again._

_That's when events started getting fuzzy. True panic buzzed through her brain. Whirls of color…red blood, white bed sheets, silver metal…black, black eyes. The nurse now turned to the instinctual medical training that had been so ingrained in her. She grabbed tools, massaged the baby, wiped off blood, listened to heart wrenching screams and then…a baby's cry rang through the panic, clear as a trumpet call through an orchestra's symphony. The girl was squirming in the nurse's hands, her pained cries like an angel's touch on the people in the room. She was a beautiful baby girl. _

The nurse massaged her hands, willing them with her mind to stop shaking. To distract herself from the fright, she looked around at her new apartment. It was decent apartment. Maybe a little small, but decent enough for a nurse's wages. The vinyl floors were a bit worn, but clean. Her walls a bit yellowed but not peeling. She could barely move around in her bathroom, but who needed that anyway? This was a result of years and years of saving up money. But she appreciated it all the same. As the dull hadeiro colors of her apartment swam in front of her eyes, she became lost in thought.

Whatever happened to that boy, her first delivery as a nurse? What happened to his mother? No husband ever came to the hospital inquiring about her. But that boy…what had happened to him? Again…memories ticked past in her mind.

_He was a beautiful baby boy. Maybe a little small, but a beautiful baby boy nonetheless. He weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces. He had a surprisingly developed veil of black hair on his little head. He was brilliantly red and healthy-looking. He was as squirmy as the baby next to him. Maybe even squirmier. He sure loved to move around and kick his little legs. His mother must have had hell with that little fighter in her stomach. But the clear plastic tubes in his body hindered him…and she could hear it. His crying was more heart-wrenching than any other baby around him. Nurse Kim Hyun Hae frowned as she looked down at her first delivery. Why was there such a piteous tone in the cry of a baby just born? He sounded as if he had already seen a thousand ills of the world…something about his wailing—it was already sad._

"_Nurse Kim."_

_She whirled around to see a stony-faced Dr. Lee._

"_Yes, doctor?"_

"_Did you discharge Ms. Yoon? The mother of baby number 768?"_

_Nurse Kim Hyun Hae hid a frown in her lips. This baby didn't deserve to be known as just a number. He was special…different._

"_No, Doctor. She was lying in her bed when I left to check on her child."_

"_Are you sure, Nurse Kim?"_

"_Yes."_

"_But she is not in her room, or her ward. People are checking the rest of the hospital, but no luck yet."_

_Nurse Kim Hyun Hae frowned. Why didn't he sound as worried as he ought to be?_

"_Well, I wouldn't know what happened. I was on my rounds, doing my duties as you ordered, Doctor."_

_He sighed. He sounded almost as sad as baby number 768. Almost. He was still crying._

"_Very well."_

"_Very well? Doctor, don't find me impertinent, but shouldn't you be a little more worried? This is your patient in your ward."_

_He gave her a stern look and Nurse Kim Hyun Hae recoiled a bit. Had she gone too far? But when he spoke, his voice wasn't raised or affected in anyway…it was just deeply, incredibly sad._

"_The mother just…this is the first time such a thing has happened. She has no record of an emergency contact so the father can't be reached. She has just disappeared without taking her child."_

_Nurse Kim Hyun Hae was silent. Dr. Lee pulled a paper from his chest pocket._

"_She scribbled this on a napkin and left it on her bedside table."_

_Nurse Kim Hyun Hae took it. The messy, hurried script was barely legible._

"_Yoon…Jang Hyuk?"_

"_Yes."_

_Again, the doctor seemed deeply upset…defeated. So did Jang Hyuk._

"_We will take care of him until he's weaned. Then we must send him to an orphanage."_

_Nurse Kim Hyun Hae looked up._

"_Sir? That would be incredibly expensive. And we could send him in a few months; he won't be weaned for more than a year."_

"_We will take care of him until he's weaned."_

_The nurse was silenced by not his repeated sentence, but the incredible sorrow in his voice. The doctor had already seen much human horror…this must be the straw on the camel's back. He had treated domestic violence wounds, gunshots from gang violence, drunk-driving accident patients, battered children…but this was too much. His hopelessness in the human race was now concrete. So was the nurse's. How could a mother leave her baby like this? Why would the world be so cruel to an innocent little life? Poor baby Jang Hyuk…he had already caused so many lives grief. The nurse vowed to never have children of her own._

_The Doctor turned away. This meeting had gone on long enough. He had other patients to treat and he couldn't be in a weak state for that. He coughed and straightened himself._

"_Nurse, you will be moved up to the tenth floor."_

"_Sir, the physical therapy ward? But I am on midwife duty."_

_She was quelled by his suddenly hard look._

"_Of course, sir."_

_Doctor Lee left briskly, leaving Nurse Kim Hyun Hae with her thoughts. He was actually doing her a favor. If she stayed here, she would be tempted to take care of the abandoned child. She would grow too close to him. What if his mother came back and this child was too attached to the nurse to leave? A nurse's salary wouldn't be able to support a baby anyway. And the orphanage would be more than willing to take him in. Reluctantly, she tore herself away from the looking glass._

_Baby Jang Hyuk had stopped crying. That was the last time she'd see him. But the promise she made to herself and her hopelessness in humanity stayed with her long after one year old Jang Hyuk left for the orphanage. Her home remained childless and her hopes remained defeated. _

A particularly long and piercing car horn jerked Nurse Kim Hyun Hae out of her reverie. It had been years and years since she had last thought of baby Jang Hyuk. Well, he wouldn't be a baby now. Well, since she was twenty-five years old when she had first delivered him…He would be in his early twenties by now. And after all of these years, he invaded her mind. She laughed quietly at her own foolishness. She had to stop herself from being such a sentimental old woman.

Nurse Hyun Hae rose to make herself a late dinner. Tomorrow, she'd be back on for the hospital. Hopefully, it was midwife duty.


	3. Chapter 2: The Ward Mother

A very short chapter update to keep the ball rolling. ) Comments and Crits please! The next one will be much longer, I promise!

* * *

"Thank you for coming, Mr. and Mrs. Hwang."

The prospective parents nodded graciously. They smiled, shining teeth glowing eerily from their mouths. The ward mother took note of this. It made her uncomfortable.

She cleared her throat nervously.

"Well, I've surveyed your papers, ran them through government checks, and it seems that you _are_ perfectly eligible parents for adoption."

They sat there like carved wooden dolls with relentlessly toothy smiles etched permanently into their faces. They made no expression showing relief, or excitement or any other emotion. They just looked at each other, exchanged meaningless smiles, and then turned back to the ward mother. It was mildly frightening. And made the ward mother very uncomfortable.

"Erm…well. Follow me this way." The ward mother stood clumsily, the extra twenty-five pounds of bulk around her belly hindering her somewhat. The perfect parents stood up robotically in sync, their expensive jewelry and watches clinking dryly. They followed the ward mother, who looked positively roly-poly next to statuesque Stepfords, into a play room where all the children were playing, eating, laughing, relaxing.

This wasn't a rich orphanage at all. Located in the homely, countryside city of Mokpo, it was small, with barely over sixty children. Some of them were children of people that were just too poor for care for them on their own, so the nuns and ward mothers took them in. The parents would come in from time to time to visit and spend time with them. But most of them were orphans.

The ward mother led the prospective parents into the room. They stood stiffly, their smiles still just as eerily perfect. They were just roving their eyes over the kids, like butchers choosing a piece of choice meat, or gold miners surveying the terrain a good place to drill. Not like people about to adopt a child, a little person that would become the object of all their love and energies. The ward mother took note of this. And felt very, very uncomfortable. But they were paying the orphanage. And in order to take in more unfortunate children, she needed their money. And the government checks were satisfactory, albeit more quickly approved than usual…it's fine. They're perfectly fine people, she tried to comfort herself. Perfectly fine people. Perfect people.

Finally, they pointed at one little boy, barely five years old, and sitting by himself playing with Tae Kwon Do action figures. The ward mother was surprised. No one had ever taken a liking to _this _one before. Well, they might change their minds after they talk to him. He was a strange one for sure…

"Jang-Hyuk-ah. Please come here."


	4. Chapter 3: The Ward Mother 2

Sorry for the long ass hiatus. Lol. Here's a new chapter :D

* * *

The glare in Jang Hyuk's eyes was so tangible. The ward mother could feel it in her bones. His look was hard, unforgiving, and telling; he didn't want to go with this Japanese couple. He sat across from them at a small table in the meeting room where prospective parents would talk a bit with their prospective child. Neither party said one word, Jang Hyuk too busy glaring and the couple too busy keeping their smile hitched to say much. The ward mother pondered; they hadn't said one thing when they presented the papers to her. What would they want with a Korean child who didn't speak Japanese? Did they even speak Korean? Her question was soon answered.

"What is your name?" The woman said through gleaming teeth and severely affected pronunciation. Jang Hyuk sat stony-faced, refusing to look her in the eye, but answered. Respect was something even a moody and awkward five year old understood. Strangely, his voice trembled a little. The ward mother shook it off as being nervous in front of prospective parents.

"My name is Jang Hyuk."

"What about your last name?"

"I don't know."

The ward mother interrupted. "It's Yoon."

The creepiness in their smiles increased, if that could happen.

Now the man, with an even worse accent than his female counterpart. "We are the Mitsuhashis."

"…"

Woman. "We would like to be your mommy and daddy."

Man. "We live in Japan. We have lots of toys for you. And we have a big house for you to play around in."

Woman. "We also have a little daughter. She and you can be fr—"

"Why do you want me? I'm not special. I'm not interesting. I can't even speak Japanese."

The ward mother stared at Jang Hyuk. Usually he was very respectful, even to people he didn't like. This sudden burst was very uncharacteristic. She took a closer look at him. His eyes were as hard as ever. But his hands, hidden under the table were quivering. His face looked paler than usual. And his breathing was quick and nervous. The ward mother was struck. These people scared him! Actually scared him! Sure they were a little creepy, but not frightening for sure. What in the…

"We want you to be our son." The man said this, but his tone had changed. It was crueler, but that unsinkable smile was still on his face. Jang Hyuk was visibly shaken by now.

The woman. "That's all." Still the smiles remained unchanged.

"N-no. You're lying."

Jang Hyuk seemed genuinely afraid now. He was sweating and shaking. Was what he was saying true? He could just be afraid to be their new child, anyone would. But was that really reason enough to be this terrified? Then it struck her. This had to be real. Jang Hyuk had just turned five. He couldn't be faking. He couldn't be. He didn't have the experience. Never had she seen anyone so in tune with others' ulterior motives. She was just about to pull him from the meeting room when the worst possible thing could have happened.

With a roar, the man leapt from his chair, across the table. Something had appeared in his hand. It was a cloth, dripping wet. 'No!' The ward mother thought. However, before she could react, the woman, now without smiles, had grabbed the ward mother's shoulder and landed a fierce punch to the nose. The ward mother crumpled like a rag doll.

These were professionals! Professionals sent to capture a five year old? The tears that burst from her eyes clouded her vision and her thoughts. The pain shooting to the front of her head didn't allow for comprehensive thought.

However Jang Hyuk's terrified screech would ring in the ward mother's ears for years to come. Haunt her. Guilt her. Torment her to her death by suicide eight years later.

After the ward mother was incapacitated, the man easily subdued the struggling child. Right before the chloroform fumes entered his blood, Jang Hyuk's eyes had changed. Now with his fear, the realization of his complete helplessness shone through. That terrible thought made his eyes gleam bright for a moment, and then they were opaque. Jang Hyuk was down. The couple easily walked out of the orphanage. There wouldn't be anyone to stop them. The other kids were in a frenzy of fear and the other ward sisters were busy trying to calm them. The man carried the limp Jang Hyuk on his shoulder, looking simply like a father carrying his sleeping child back to his shiny BMW. The smiles were back, but an insidious satisfaction shone through them.

The ward mother fought the searing pain in her face to take a glimpse at the kidnappers. She could see them through the window, and poor Jang Hyuk's limp body being gently placed in the back seat.

Those bastards…

They drove away, leaving no trace that they were even here. Their papers were probably fakes. Their names probably weren't even real. What did they want with Jang Hyuk? What…

Her last thought wasn't finished. She blacked out before then.

She never did see Jang Hyuk again.


End file.
